"Beach Patience"

By Tom Squitieri

(@TomSquitieri)

It was at 1:57 today

when I finally heard what

the beach was

saying to me

About half a century

from when she first shared

her wisdom to my soul

Perhaps, like the waves

That slowly move

To finally reach your toes

It just took a while

To reach my true self

Turning the

Talk

Into the truth

And like the chilly

Ocean water

The beach’s words

Truly reached me

and

Woke me

The rest of the beach joined

To ensure that

This time

I heard and listened

The clouds pick their spots

And stay

They know they need

Not work too hard

Now to share their message

Above me

Framing my life

Each chapter

For me to read

In blues and wisps

And sweet memories

That fuel tomorrow

This is where

Your home is

And the only place

That tells the whole

story

They drew for me

On my back

I talk to the sand

As it reminds me

Who rules

Adjusting around

My body

To embrace me

Don’t forget again

The gull says

Or so I interpret

Stop pretending

As she hovers over me

And smiles

As the clouds

Stay still

I realize they are

Reverse magnets

Pinning me to the beach

As if I want to ever leave

About The Author:

Tom Squitieri is a three-time winner of the Overseas Press Club and White House Correspondents' Association awards for work as a war correspondent.

He is blessed to have his poetry appear in several publications, books and anthologies, the art exhibition Color: Story2020/2021, and the films “Rings of the Unpromised” and "Fate's Shadow: The Whole Story," where he shared the Los Angeles Motion Picture Festival "Grand Jury Prize Gold for Monologues & Poetry."

He writes most of his poetry while parallel parking or walking his dogs, Topsie and Batman.